A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wearable devices and, more particularly, to data transmission with respect to wearable devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is a rapidly growing communication network of interconnected computers and computer networks around the world. Together, these millions of connected computers form a vast repository of multimedia information that is readily accessible by any of the connected computers from anywhere at any time. Further, these millions of connected computers provide a reliable means for users to stay in touch from anywhere at any time by way of emails, voices, images or videos. To provide mobility and portability of access to the Internet, mobile communication or computing devices (also known as wireless communication devices) are introduced and capable of communicating, via wireless networks, with the Internet.
The wireless communication devices or mobile computing devices are normally smaller scale computing devices. Examples of such devices include two-way pagers, cellular phones, palm-sized computing devices and personal digital assistant (PDA) apparatuses. These devices enable users to receive, collect, analyze, review and disseminate information as they travel or move about. Although wireless communication devices or mobile computing devices are becoming smaller, they are in many cases still too large to be highly portable or easily wearable. Such devices are also too expensive for many members of the public.
There is therefore a need for wireless communication devices that are smaller, lighter, less expensive, and more wearable.
Broadly speaking, the invention relates to data acquisition, transmission or retrieval for wearable devices. These wearable devices are electronic devices, such as mobile computing devices or wireless communication devices, and are often small in scale and very portable. Wearable devices are able to communicate with one another to exchange information. Wearable devices are also able to exchange information with a portal server. Personal portals can also be provided for users of the wearable devices so that they can easily access information previously gathered by their wearable device and transmitted to their personal portal.
Wearable devices can take many shapes, designs and forms. As examples, the wearable devices can be provided as badges or charms. Badges are particularly well suited for use for by employees of a business, visitors to a theme park or other tourist area, or attendees to conferences, conventions or trade shows. Charms are small and can double as jewelry, clothing accessories, or fashion items.
The invention can be implemented in numerous ways including, a method, system, device, and a computer readable medium. Several embodiments of the invention are discussed below.
As a method for exchanging data between wearable computing devices, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the acts of: determining whether a first wearable computing device can presently communicate with a second wearable computing device; sending a data exchange request from the first wearable computing device to the second wearable computing device when it is determined that the first wearable computing device can presently communicate with the second wearable computing device, the data exchange request requesting a data exchange between the first wearable computing device and the second wearable computing device; receiving a request response at the first wearable computing device, the request response indicating whether the second wearable computing device has authorized the data exchange; and performing the data exchange between the first wearable computing device and the second wearable computing device when the request response indicates that the second wearable computing device has authorized the data exchange.
As a method for transferring data from a wearable device to a portal server via a server agent, one embodiment of the invention includes the acts of: determining when data should be uploaded from the wearable device to the portal server via the server agent; determining whether the wearable device has permission to access a personal portion of the portal server; and transmitting data from the wearable device to the server agent with instructions for the server agent to forward the data to the personal portion of the portal server when it is determined that the data should be uploaded and it is determined that the wearable device has permission to access the personal portion of the portal server.
As a method for providing personal portals for users of wireless devices, the private portals being hosted by a portal server, one embodiment of the invention includes the acts of: receiving data uploaded from one of the wireless devices to an associated one of the personal portals for the user of the one of the wireless devices; processing the uploaded data to produce processed data; and rendering the processed data available from the associated one of the personal portals.
As a computer readable medium including computer program code for exchanging data between self-wearable computing devices, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: computer program code for determining whether a first self-wearable computing device can presently communicate with a second self-wearable computing device; computer program code for sending a data exchange request from the first self-wearable computing device to the second self-wearable computing device when the computer program code for determining determines that the first self-wearable computing device can presently communicate with the second self-wearable computing device, the data exchange request requesting a data exchange between the first self-wearable computing device and the second self-wearable computing device; computer program code for receiving a request response at the first self-wearable computing device, the request response indicating whether the second self-wearable computing device has authorized the data exchange; and computer program code for performing the data exchange between the first self-wearable computing device and the second self-wearable computing device when the request response indicates that the second self-wearable computing device has authorized the data exchange.
As a computer readable medium including computer program code for transferring data from a wearable device to a portal server via a server agent, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: first computer program code for determining when the data should be uploaded from the wearable device to the portal server via the server agent; second computer program code for determining whether the wearable device has permission to access a personal portion of the portal server; and computer program code for transmitting data from the wearable device to the server agent with instructions for the server agent to forward the data to the personal portion of the portal server when the first computer program code for determining determines that the data should be uploaded and the second computer program code for determining determines that the wearable device has permission to access the personal portion of the portal server.
As a computer readable medium including computer program code for providing personal portals for users of wireless devices, the private portals being hosted by a portal server, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: computer program code for receiving data uploaded from one of the wireless devices to an associated one of the personal portals for the user of the one of the wireless devices; computer program code for processing the uploaded data to produce processed data; and computer program code for rendering the processed data available from the associated one of the personal portals.
The advantages of the invention are numerous. Different embodiments or implementations may yield one or more of the following advantages. One advantage of the invention is that wearable devices can easily acquire from or transmit data to other wearable devices or terminal devices. Another advantage of the invention is that private portals can be provided for users of wearable devices to facilitate retrieval of information previously acquired by the wearable devices and transmitted to the private portals. Still another advantage of the invention is that the wearable devices can take many different configurations, forms, shapes or designs but are generally wearable and light weight.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.